1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to user-based software resources (e.g., contact management systems, web browsers) implemented on user devices within a customer premises, enabling a user to obtain contact information (e.g., phone number, e-mail address, website address, etc.) for a given contact (e.g., individual or business). The present invention also relates to residential access routers or gateway routers providing access for multiple users to a single service provider link.
2. Description of the Related Art
Businesses and organizations spend substantial resources on an annual basis in order to employ information systems that improve the availability and accessibility of information relevant to specific needs. Early information systems focused on database management schemes, where information was stored and classified using database management systems in order to obtain search results in response to specific database queries. Exemplary database management system vendors have included Oracle Corporation, IBM Informix®, Sybase®, Microsoft (e.g., Access and SQL Server) etc. Such database management systems, however, required some knowledge of the database query syntax, the organizational structure of the database, and knowledge of the available search keys for performing a database query. Hence, the earlier database management systems required some user expertise, rendering such systems less user friendly for less experienced users.
More recent search technologies have employed a web-based search model, where corporate directories can be searched using a web-based search model. For example, companies such as IBM, Google, and XI have created context search engines which consolidate and present data based on user queries.
Commonly-assigned, copending application Ser. No. 11/288,275, filed Nov. 29, 2005, entitled “Generating Search Results Based on Determined Relationships Between Data Objects and User Connections to Identified Destinations”, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, describes a search system that generates an ordered list of destination targets including identified individuals and data objects, based on applying a user context to an information context and to a connection context. The user context identifies a search context (i.e., the information the user is seeking) relative to an identity of the user, and the information context identifies destinations accessible by the user, including data objects and communications-based actions (e.g., Voice over IP telephony calls, instant messaging session transcripts, etc.). The connection context identifies relationships between chosen destinations throughout the system, and the strength of those relationships determined from artifacts of the chosen destinations. The portion of the connection context that is relevant to the user context is used to order the portion of the information context that is relevant to the user context, resulting in the ordered list of destination targets.
Hence, the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 11/288,275 enables large-scale business enterprises to deploy internal web-based search systems that enable business users to generate search results that include contact information (e.g., telephone numbers, e-mail addresses etc.) of individuals determined as relevant to the search context.
The aforementioned search technologies, however, are not practical for residential or small-office users because such users would not deploy an advanced search system in their customer premises (e.g., home, small office); rather, such residential or small-office users will typically use a single router that provides a connection for a limited number of users to a single local service provider link. The local service provider link is typically implemented in the form of a single Ethernet connection (e.g., Gigabit Ethernet) between the router and an access device (e.g., cable or DSL modem) that provides an interface to the access network of the local service provider.
Hence, residential or small-office users have needed to rely on manual searches and manual entry in order to generate contact information. For example, such residential/small-office users attempting to locate a telephone number for a business contact typically have needed to use the browser on their user computers to visit a corporate website responsible for the business contact, and navigate through the web pages generated by the corporate website to locate the relevant telephone number for the business contact. Depending on the web pages on the corporate website, however, the relevant telephone number may not be readily accessible, and in fact may not even be published on the corporate website.
Attempts to use web-based search tools for contact information (e.g., search engines offered on the World Wide Web at “google.com”, “yahoo.com”, “ask.com”, etc.), requires the continued availability of information on the World Wide Web to enable the search engines to retrieve the information. Such web-based search services, however, may require unwanted advertisements to be displayed for a given search result, or royalties to be paid to the search service in exchange for providing the contact information. In addition, privacy concerns arise in the case of publishing contact information such as telephone numbers on the Internet; further, the web-based search tools are unable to provide telephone number for private (unpublished) telephone numbers.
User software applications known as contact managers have been used in order to enable an individual to maintain records of individuals and their respective attributes. Contact manager programs, such as Microsoft® Office Outlook® from Microsoft Corp. and Palm® desktop from Palm Source, Inc., enable an individual user to maintain contact records of persons deemed relevant by the user (i.e., contacts), each record enabling the user to input and store the corresponding information related to the contact such as telephone number, address, e-mail, and notes related to the contact. The contact managers also include search capabilities, enabling the user to identify a contact based on entering a search query. Such contact manager programs also may include a “click-to-dial” option, where a phone call to a contact in a contact manager entry having a stored telephone number can be initiated by the user “clicking” the appropriate icon in the entry. In all cases, however, the contact manager applications require manual input of data for the contacts, with limited group sharing based on the system.
A solution to these and other problems is described in the accompanying brief description of the attached drawings and the accompanying description of embodiment(s) of the invention as specified in the appended claims, the description of the embodiment(s) including at least one best mode for carrying out the invention.